What doesn't kill you
by jokergirl2001
Summary: In which Clarke was sent to Earth to die because of her supposed treason, but doesn't. She quickly learns that radiation won't kill her. Grounders, strange animals, acid fogs, AIs, politics and the delinquents that she doesn't remember adopting, on the other hand, just might. What doesn't kill her just raises her chance in surviving against the things that might. [AU/canon.]
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

 **Welcome to Earth, heathen.**

 _I'm waking up to ash and dust_

 _I wipe my brow and I sweat my rust_

 _I'm breathing in the chemicals_

 **::**

Clarke woke with a weak gasp, instinctively letting out a panicked: "Dad!"

The blonde medic-student winced and reached her hand up to cradle her throbbing head. She felt a wet substance. Automatically, she brought back down her hand and managed to make out the substance to be her blood.

It was then she noticed one very important thing.

She wasn't in her room.

She was in a small space which she quickly identified to be the inside of a pod.

 _'Where am I?'_ Clarke wondered, mindful not to make any more sudden movements, lest her head injury gets worse. She tried to bring forward her last lucid memories, desperately trying to piece together her current situation while remaining _calm_ , because any respectful doctor needed to be able to stay calm under dire situations. The fact that she wasn't really a doctor didn't matter.

Resolutely, she ignored the small childish part of her that screamed out that she was just seventeen and deserved to be distressed.

She needed to focus.

The last thing she remembered was—

 _"It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. Here. Keep that for me."_

Clarke whimpered in distress, not bothering to hide her sobs. No one seemed to be around to hear them anyway, so she didn't have to pretend to be strong.

"Dad," she choked out, finally noticing she was wearing her father's watch.

She remembered everything clearly now. Her father had found a glitch in the system and figured out that the Ark was dying. At best, they had two years of oxygen left and only one year at worst. Her mother and father argued about whether or not to let the others know and Clarke, being the too trusting and foolishly naive that she was, had confided in her best friend Wells.

That was her biggest mistake, she found out as soon as the guards had arrested her father.

As soon as she watched helplessly as her father was _floated_ in front of her eyes for 'treason'. What treason, she wanted to scream out. Before her eyes, Jaha had went from her kind but stern uncle to a cold leader who was willing to murder his own _friend_ for wanting to do the _right_ thing. Wells had went from being her best friend, the only person in the Ark whom she could tell everything, to a treacherous coward who strove to suck up to his equally treacherous father.

Jaha didn't even have the decency to let her grief her father's death for more than five minutes before ordering her arrest as well for assisting in treason. She remembered how she had reflexively tried to fight off the guards even as her mother tried assuring her that she would only be sent to the Sky Box and once she turned eighteen her case would be reviewed and they'd release her.

Her mom had almost managed to convince her to go calmly when Jaha shot down her mother's reassurances.

 _"I'm afraid that isn't possible.."_ Jaha had dared to sound regretful.

Her mother had of course been shocked. _"W-what?"_

(Wells had been shocked too, but Clarke **didn't** want to think about that traitor.)

 _"Clarke poses too much of a threat to simply be sent to the Prison Station, regardless of her being in solitary confinement or not."_

 _"You can't float my daughter!"_

 _"I'm not floating your daughter Abby."_

 _"Then what are you planning?"_

 _"Death by Earth. You have five minutes to say your goodbyes. You too, Wells. I'm sorry Clarke."_

Clarke forcefully shoved away the memories of the last few hours from her head as she furiously wiped away the tears from her eyes.

Death by Earth. Out of all the things Jaha could have done, he chose that. He was too hell bent on keeping the law of not floating those younger than eighteen that he would rather stick her into an old pod and launch her to Earth to die. Aside from the gossiping that would ensue, no one would really question her 'decision' to commit suicide. Now, both her and her father were no longer a threat to Jaha and his precious council that would rather pretend everything's okay than let the others know that the oxygen was running out.

It was okay anyway, Clarke spitefully thought.

She'd rather die on the Earth she spent her whole life dreaming about instead of by being floated or lack of oxygen.

She'd rather die on Earth instead of on that death box in space.

Wait...

Clarke's eyes widened as she finally realized something. She was still _alive_.

"I'm on Earth," the girl uttered breathlessly, still shocked.

Any other person in her position would quickly get out of the pod to _see_ Earth and _breathe_ in a way the Ark would never be able to let them breathe. Clarke, however, really wasn't any other person. She knew that the air was toxic and would kill her.

The cold and detached part of her pointed out that _if_ the air was toxic, she'd be dead either way then wouldn't she? If so, wouldn't she rather at least _see_ Earth before she died?

She would.

She didn't even have to think between choosing to survive perhaps an extra hour or die within five minutes without ever seeing Earth up close.

With her heart beating loudly, Clarke Griffin took a leap of faith an opened the death trap (pod) that she was in. At the same time, a cold gust of wind blew, causing her to shiver. Despite this, the girl was smiling.

 _'That's what wind feels like...'_

Motivated by childish curiosity and recklessness that she had only indulged herself a handful of times in her life, she quickly stepped out of her pod. Her feet hesitated for less than three seconds before she placed them on _the ground_ and _felt_ the crunch of green-colored leaves beneath her boots.

She had never heard a sound more beautiful before.

"Beautiful," she whispered, feeling like the word was an understatement as she looked around her.

Everything was so _green_.

How did she not care for this color before?

It was official, green was now her favorite color.

"Dad, mom, I wish you two could see this," she wistfully said without any thought.

She felt her heart ache when her mind caught up to her words and viciously reminded her that _one_ , her father was **dead** and _two,_ she'd be joining him when the radiation finally catches up with her system.

No, she wasn't a pessimist. She was a realist.

She didn't have a map or anything that could clue her in on where she was. Sure, she could go scavenging for resources, but what was the point if she would die of radiation soon? The Earth after all wasn't meant to be habitable for at least another century.

She'd just enjoy this moment while it lasts.

She'd indulge her inner teenager that she had always ignored and she'd explore what little she could before the radiation kills her off. Who knows? If she was lucky, she could actually see a body of water before that happened.

With a small smile, twinged in both joy and sadness, Clarke started walking forward with no destination in mind. No pressure and no responsibilities. She'd be dying soon, but she hoped that the Ark will manage to survive.

The thought of the Ark made the blonde girl look up to see the sky.

It was so _blue_ , she marveled. It was a lighter blue than the blue she would see when she looked at the Earth from behind the safety of the Ark. She wanted to paint using this type of sky blue. Not only that, but the _clouds_ looked so enticing as well. In the Ark, she was tired of seeing the same old white colors, but maybe she wouldn't get tired of seeing the clouds.

Once again, she wished her loved ones were with her to see it.

Her eyes turned glossy again, but she chalked it up to her eyes being sensitive to the windy temperature. Clarke knew that whatever she would say would never reach the Ark, but she found herself reciting words that she knew by her heart anyway: "In peace may you leave the shore. In love may you find the next. Safe passage on your travels, until our final journey to the ground. May we meet a—

For a fraction of a second, Clarke felt her head explode in pain.

Then her world turned black.

 **::**

 **Chapter End.**

 **::**

 **Author's note:** _hahaha, so guess which fandom I'm into at the moment? Hahahaha..._

 _Basically, this story is about Clarke being sent to Earth earlier. What does this change? **Everything.** (Kind of a fix-it, but not really.)_

 **Q &A**

 **Q: What's the pairing?**

 **A:** _Hold your horses you Clexa and Bellarke shippers...hold your horses. I guarantee that you guys will see enough Clexa and Bellarke in this story eventually, and even some other Clarke pairings. (I'm not saying that I'm going to write Clarke gettting into a relationship with Lexa and then kill off Lexa so Bellarke can happen. You'll figure out what I mean soon.)_

 **Q: What's the focus of this story?**

 **A:** _Well, I have three main focuses of this story. First off, I wanted to write a fanfic with the delinquents becoming more of a family with Clarke as the mom of course and explore what Clarke's friendships could have been like with Octavia, Raven, etc without Clarke's decisions getting in the way. Note: Clarke will still make some hard decisions, but in this story she is going to deal with them when she does. Second of all, I wanted to write a fic that's 50% plot, 30% mommy Clarke, 10% delinquents being badass friends and 10% romance instead of the usual 100% romance, 0% plot I read. (I'm NOT saying there aren't good romance stories of this fandom, just that they are rare.) Third of all, I don't know, I just wanted to see what would have happened if the delinquents/100 had more knowledge of Earth instead of being clueless and getting into shit for it._

 **Q: Clexa or Bellarke?**

 **A:** _No comment. I'm not tryna die today._

 **Q: Badass Clarke?**

 **A:** Badass Clarke _and_ Clarke using her marvelous brain instead of letting the blonde get to her sometimes.

 **Q: Characters that will get more focus?**

 **A:** _Well, here are the names I can give ya without spoiling much: Bellamy, Octacia, Raven, Murphy, Jasper...you know what, basically all the delinquents._

 **Q: who will get killed off?**

 **A:** _depends on my mood. There will be some character deaths here and there though._


	2. Earth Welcoming

**Chapter Two**

 **An earth Welcome**

 _I'm breaking in, shaping up_

 _Checking out on the prison bus_

 _This is it, the apocalypse – whoa_

 **::**

On her second day on Earth, after spending her first one knocked out, Clarke quickly figured out two things.

The first thing was that radiation apparently wouldn't kill her, which in itself was a shocking revelation considering she was taught that Earth wouldn't be habitable for quite some more time. It almost made her scoff, considering the reason why the Ark was in trouble was the supposed believe that Earth wasn't livable.

Now, the second thing that Clarke figured out while on Earth was that while radiation might not kill her, other people could.

Yes, _people_. It should be impossible for her, or even others, to still be alive on Earth according to the classes she took on the Ark. Apparently, the classes she took about Earth was a total lie. Story of her life basically.

"Who are you people?" Clarke tried asking for what felt like the millionth time.

Her two captors ignored her, causing her to inhale in annoyance. She didn't push for an answer though, because not only did they bound her with ropes but they were also armed with swords and bows.

She didn't want to know where they were going to take her.

But she had to get a feel from them, or at least from her surroundings before she could enact an escape.

"I don't know if I prefer prison or Earth, honestly," Clarke forced herself to keep speaking, pretending to be nervous and nonchalant even as she intently observed her captors.

They ignored her.

"My people are practically dying in the Ark and I'm down here walking to my death for all I know."

There. One of them twitched.

They understood her.

They just acted like they didn't.

Clarke hid a victorious smile as she continued rambling and projecting the image of a naive idiot. She even threw in some false information here and there, knowing that they would probably tell their leader about whatever she talks about.

She pretended to tire.

Once she was sure the two noticed her fatigue, she tripped on a piece of rock and stumbled into the smaller one. She felt him tense against her.

"S-sorry!" She exclaimed, not even having to force her fear as she grabbed the knife from his belt. She quickly hid the object under her sleeve, glad that she had been sent to Earth in her long sleeved shirt.

He pushed her away and she stepped back, holding up her hands in a peaceful gesture. For a moment, Clarke feared that they knew what she was up to. She relaxed when the bigger one scoffed and continued walking.

Let them underestimate her.

She followed after them, glancing between the two and trying to formulate a plan.

She didn't know how long they were walking, but eventually the sun had begun to set and the moon came up.

" _Hod op_ ," the apparent leader of the duo gruffly said.

Clarke saw the two stop walking and took it as her cue to also stop moving. She eyed them apprehensively as they conversed among themselves. From what she was gathering, they were going to call it a night.

" _Yu_ ," the leader motioned her to sit down.

Slowly, Clarke did as ordered, watching as the smaller one of the duo went away. She returned her gaze back to the apparent leader.

"Hey."

"..."

"Hey," Clarke tried again.

The leader sighed and looked at her. His face wasn't amused.

"I have to pee."

He didn't even twitch.

Figuring out that he was probably going to continue pretending not to know English, she began gesturing and making noises. God, the last time she had done something so ridiculous was during game night when she, Wells and their parents were playing charade.

The memory tasted bittersweet to her.

" _Hod op_ ," the leader hissed.

Clarke promptly quietened down, warily watching the other.

He pointed to a tree.

Clarke stood up and walked to said tree. She glanced behind her to see the leader still looking at her and bit her lip in frustration. Forcing away any embarrassment she unbuttoned her jeans. She shook them off and let them fall to her ankle.

There was no way she could back down now.

She forced down her underwear and crouched down.

Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment even as she begun discreetly cutting the rope that was binding her wrists. She had never felt so embarrassed and mortified in her life, but this was necessary. The shame she was feeling was worth surviving.

Once her wrists were free, she glanced behind her to see that at some point the man had looked begun building a fire.

A part of her felt oddly relieved, but the cynical part of her told her this was her chance.

She only bothered lifting up her underwear, putting her jeans back on would take too much time. She hid her knife behind her back as she quietly walked to the man. She couldn't believe this was actually working.

A quick swipe at the man's throat was enough.

" _Ai...gonplei...ste odon..._ "

The blonde's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, but she quickly grabbed her discarded jeans and made her way into the forest in the opposite direction of where the other one had gone.

Clarke was sure she was supposed to be feeling guilty, in fact she was sure she would eventually feel the guilt of what she had just done. But for now, she had to focus on escaping before the other one came.

She didn't make it far before she felt a pair of arms wrap around her.

"No," Clarke hissed, struggling against her captor. She gripped the knife in her hand and quickly stabbed her captor.

Or at least, she tried to.

He grabbed her wrist before she could. "Calm down, sky girl."

Clarke immediately stilled and allowed her captor to grab her knife.

"Are both dead?"

Clarke shook her head.

Her captor sighed and she felt his breath on her. Despite her instincts telling her to fight and run, she forced herself to stay still. Whoever her captor was, he didn't kill her yet and he was actually communicating to her.

"Wait here. Don't try to run or I'll track you down."

He released her.

Clarke gulped as she turned around to face the direction the mysterious man went.

Was he going to kill the other one? Why? Why was he apparently helping her out even? Did this mean that there were different groups of people on Earth? If so, how many were there and which ones were friendly?

She could run.

But if she did, she wouldn't get any answers.

Clarke listened to her gut feeling and stood her ground.

She wasn't sure how long she was waiting before the man appeared once again. He seemed almost surprised that she was still there.

"Why did you help me?" Clarke bluntly asked, tensing up in case she needed to fight.

She wouldn't win, but she wouldn't go down silently either.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "First you try to stab me and now you're looking at me like I'm the enemy?"

"You're not my ally either," Clarke shot back.

"You have a real gratitude problem, you know that?"

" _Why_ did you help me?" Clarke asked again, more forcefully.

The man sighed. "Look sky girl, can't we talk about this tomorrow? I've been tracking you down all day and you probably had a long day."

Clarke's eyes narrowed on the man, trying to find any deceit in his eyes or face. He seemed genuine enough.

"Fine," Clarke sighed out, the tension leaving her.

He grabbed her wrist and began leading her away. "Let's go then, sky girl."

Clarke pulled her wrist away from his grip. She knew she was only successful because he let her.

"Don't drag me around," Clarke tensely told him.

He shot her an amused look.

"Alright sky girl."

"Also, my _name_ is Clarke," she glared at him, daring him to call her 'sky girl' one more time.

He smiled at her. "You're feisty, _Clarke_."

Clarke didn't say anything else.

"My name's Roan."

Clarke raised an eyebrow at him. She hadn't expect him to disclose his name to her.

He shrugged, "Figured you should know since we're probably going to be knowing more about the other by tomorrow."

 **::**

 **Chapter End**

 **::**

 **A/N:** _well, that's a wrap folks! Clarke managed to escape and find a maybe ally in Roan along the way. Honestly, I was motivated to update because of the latest episode of the 100. I'm liking season 5 so far. My only complaint is that the events in season 5 are going too fast at times, but aside from that I LOVE IT._

 **Questions:**

 **1\. Why do you think Roan helped Clarke out? What do you think their future interactions will be like?**

 **2\. What do you think of season 5 of the 100 so far?**


End file.
